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Disc golf course at Fruita Riverside Park finally open

Bill Alderman takes a shot at the basket on the long par-4 17th hole during a recent practice round at the Fruita Riverside Park disc golf course. After dealing with high water issues, the course opened Aug. 7 and will host the Colorado Disc Golf Championships in October.

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For more information on disc golf in the Grand Valley and the Colorado Disc Golf State Championship, visit http://www.gvdiscgolf.org.

The course at Snooks Bottom has all 18 holes available and ready for play.

“It’s really a good course,” John Bird, the co-owner of Birdie Disc Golf said. “There are some challenging holes and I think it can be a lot of fun for everyone.”

Bird designed the course with Grand Junction resident Bill Alderman, but struggled to get it finished with high water levels on the Colorado River most of the summer.

As the water levels went down, the course dried out and was officially opened Aug. 7.

The Riverside course is designed to have three different positions for each hole. There is a short course, a medium course and a championship course with a few holes longer than 600 feet.

Each hole has a marker at the tee box with the yardages and a picture of the hole.

“Right now it’s a mix,” Bird said. “We have some holes at each pin placements so we want to encourage rec players to come out and play.”

The course will use its long pin placements when it hosts the Colorado Disc Golf State Championships in October. The Riverside course and Palisade’s Riverbend Park will both be used for the state championships.

“It’s going to be a fun addition to the state championships,” Bird said. “When the course is in the long position there are some pretty tough holes, so the local players are really excited about the course.”

The Riverside course has two distinctive areas. The first two and last two holes are in the Snooks Bottom Open Space and challenges players with desert terrain.

The third hole forces players to throw over a dirt mound before reaching the fourth hole, which is the pride of the course.

The hole starts on a hill and travels 300 feet down to the pin in Riverfront Park.

“I think No. 4 is going to be a favorite,” Bird said. “One of the pin placements is hidden and behind a face of the cliff.

“It’s a very unique hole.”

The bottom half of the course in Riverfront Park matches players against grassy terrain along the river.

“We have a little bit of everything,” Bird said. “We have some narrow fairways, wide-open holes and I think people will really enjoy it.”

Rock Cesario, the president of Grand Valley Disc Golf, recently played the Riverside course for the first time.

“It’s a challenging course, but really great,” Cesario said. “It’s easy enough to have it set up for the amateurs, but the pros will like it because it can be so long.”